Iraq, Turkey discuss resuming Kirkuk oil exports

By 16/11/2017

The image shows employees working at the Bai Hassan oil field after it fell to the Iraqi government during the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi army's incursion into the city of Kirkuk on October 16. Photo: AFP/Ahmad al-Raye

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Top Iraqi oil officials met with a Turkish energy delegation in Baghdad to discuss resuming Kirkuk's oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan which were halted early in November.

“A high level Turkish energy delegation met with senior oil officials, including officials from state-run SOMO, to discuss ways to restart Kirkuk oil exports,” Iraqi’s oil ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

SOMO is Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil and negotiates trade with foreign parties.

“The priority is to resume oil exports from Kirkuk through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline once it has been rehabilitated or replaced by a new one,” Luaibi said during a visit to Kirkuk’s oil fields.

Iraq’s Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi announced on Monday that Iraq plans to double Kirkuk’s oil exports to 1 million barrels per day (bpd).

Oil exports from Kirkuk to Turkey's Ceyhan port via the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline were halted by Baghdad on November 1.

The oilfields of Bai Hassan and Havana, two major oilfields in Kirkuk, run by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) since 2014, fell to Iraqi armed forces during their incursion into the city of Kirkuk on October 16.

Iraq forces are currently working to secure the route for the Kirkuk pipeline that Baghdad plans to rehabilitate in order to export oil via Turkey.